Bridge Between Magic and People
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: Frozen 2 was AMAZING! SPOILERS AHEAD: DO NOT READ if you haven't seen the movie! This is set about a year after the second film. Laughter and tears will be shed. Read, Review, and ENJOY!
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

Elsa, former Queen of Arendelle, was stressed.

She was stressed over the current Queen of Arendelle, her baby sister, having a minor panic attack in the cloister of the royal chapel. Strikingly beautiful in white, Anna was holding her stomach and sobbing, trying to get her breathing back to normal in the worst case of pre-wedding jitters Elsa had ever seen.

"What if he runs when he sees me? I'll be left standing at the altar! That's the kind of thing that they would love to put in the royal history books..."

"OK, OK, enough." Elsa hauled Anna to her feet and gave her a little shake. "Anna: do you love Kristoff?"

"More than anyone," Anna sighed helplessly. She faltered when she realized what she had said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"No offense taken," Elsa clipped. "If you said you loved your sister more than your husband, _then_ I would be concerned. Anna... you know this is the next right thing. Just because you're getting married doesn't mean you won't make mistakes. Make your own mistakes! There will be plenty of them as Queen, believe me. Whatever you do going forward... let it come from your heart."

Anna's eyes filled with tears. Letting out a fierce squeal, she pulled Elsa close, her tears dripping into her shoulder. Elsa hugged her back.

"There, there... scooch up and cuddle close..." The wedding march began to play, and Elsa held out her arm. Smiling weakly, Anna took it, and together, the sisters entered the chapel so that the Queen could be given away...


	2. Chapter 1: Friday Night Charades

**Chapter 1: Friday Night Charades**

Kristoff awoke at first light.

He blamed his keen body clock on years of conditioning, following the patterns of the heavenly bodies so that maximum time was utilized for ice harvesting. Just another day with his pick and his flare gun and his sled and Sven. The snowfall this year had been plentiful - and not at all magical, so much as he could tell. Then again, maybe Elsa was favoring them with a merry holiday season.

Tugging on his boots, squinting his eyes against the rising sun, Kristoff turned back to another heavenly body strewn across his bed.

She lay naked before him, her face utterly relaxed as she dozed and dreamed. The smile that lit up his world graced her face. Anna, his Queen in every sense of the word... and his wife of just over a year.

They had married hurriedly after he had proposed on the banks of the Southern Sea. Of course, Anna was coronated first as Queen Anna of Arendelle. The garments she wore as the most powerful royal only added to her beauty. After that, the wedding was thrown together, almost frantically. Grand gestures and tradition were spurned - the marriage of a Queen had not happened since Iduna had wed decades before - in favor of a sappy, lovey-dovey, I-can't-live-without-you-so-why-wait? affair. It had been a quiet church wedding, without all the extra fuss and baggage. Kristoff had been pleased by the ceremony, the happiest day of his life, his bride the picture of a blushing flower. And he had won on every stipulation he had voiced. On several points, he and Anna had agreed: 1. Just because he was married to the Queen did not make Kristoff King. He didn't want to be King, or even King Consort. Just... Kristoff. Anna's husband. 2. He would wear clothing befit of royalty only at important functions and whenever Anna expressly asked it of him. "One hour. You get this for one hour," he had promised her that first time he appeared before her in a monkey suit, just after her coronation, with his hair slicked back. Sven and Olaf enjoyed dressing up more than he did; the worst he would have to endure was peer-pressure from the both of them. Anna's opinion was the only one that counted, and she still maintained that she preferred him in leather anyway.

All of that was as it should be. Anna was already making a fine Queen. She should rule, and rule alone, allowing her to shine and become the beloved monarch of her people. The common folk still adored Elsa, her portrait hanging proudly in the main gallery, commemorating her three-year reign, although she had unofficially held power for six, ever since Agnarr and Iduna's shipwreck. Meanwhile, Kristoff was free to indulge in his wild side. He had been raised wild, in the mountains and by trolls. Ice harvesting he was good at, and through it he felt he could provide for his wife, despite the fact that she had more money than God. Royal duties... not so much. That was not his forte.

There was only one place where Kristoff could not hide from responsibility. And that was his inevitable fathering of the heir to the Arendellian throne. The thought made his eyes wander further down the bed. Blushing, he rose and circled the four-poster. Pecking Anna's cheek, he whispered, "I love you."

Anna murmured adorably through her tell-tale snore, a strand of her auburn hair dangling into her open mouth. The Queen rolled over, but did not wake. Kristoff smiled and shook his head, stealing out of Her Majesty's private chambers and making for the stablehouse. Hitching up Sven, he clicked the reins and thundered out of the palace courtyard. There was one small errand he would have to make first - there was not a cloud in the sky and Gale was nowhere to be seen so as to deliver a message. Besides, Oaken could wait.

* * *

High in the hills of the Enchanted Forest, on the borders of Northuldra, Elsa snapped awake rather abruptly. Leaning against her, Nokk, the water spirit and her trusty steed, nickered in his sleep. Standing, the former Queen of Arendelle stretched and smiled. She had had the most wonderful dream last night, about Anna... although aspects of it had left her confused.

Nokk would not rouse for a while, which left Elsa to her thoughts. She played idly with her ice powers to keep herself busy, her feet carrying her listlessly along the side of the mountain. Once her horse did wake, they would visit Ahtohallen across the Dark Sea. Check to make sure that everything was secured. Being the Protector of the Enchanted Forest, the Fifth Spirit, was hard work, but Elsa enjoyed it. Her background as Queen translated well into a duty like this. She was embracing her destiny.

Nokk was just beginning to stir, she could hear it, when the snort of another rider drifted to her ears. Glancing back, Elsa smiled as she spied Sven and Kristoff in his cart coming over the crest of the hill. Beaming, she ran to embrace her sister's husband. "Dear brother, welcome! What are you doing here?"

Kristoff grinned. "Just to ask you if you can come to the palace for charades tonight?"

Elsa blinked. She was free this evening, but... "But today isn't Friday."

"Anna couldn't wait," Kristoff winked. "And frankly, neither could I. So: can we count on you for this evening?"

Elsa grinned weakly. "Of course."

"Fantastic. Gotta go. Oaken is waiting on me. Bye, sis!" Kristoff pecked her cheek, and just like that, he and Sven were gone again.

Rubbing her cheek, Elsa peered after her brother-in-law in bemusement. What could this possibly be about? She just didn't know...

* * *

Elsa let Nokk drop her off at the gates of the palace. With the snow on the ground, he could at least safely travel on dry land. Petting his mane, and promising to meet him back at the fjord later, Elsa entered the castle. Servants still bowed to her as she passed, which she acknowledged. But when Kai greeted her with a happy, "Your Majesty!" Elsa had to draw the line.

"Oh, get up!" she helped her former Chief of Staff off his knees. "I am no longer Queen here. If I hear 'Your Majesty,' I start looking around for my sister."

"Her Majesty will be very happy to see you," Kai smiled. "I can show you the way..."

"I know the way," Elsa replied shortly, but with a thankful smile. Gliding along the halls, she soon arrived at the Queen's private residence. Her former rooms.

A roaring fire was going in the sitting room. Kristoff and Anna were practically in each other's laps, cozy and murmuring in low tones. Olaf and Sven were in one corner, fighting over a carrot.

"Elsa!" Anna cried in greeting and ran into her sister's arms. Elsa smiled softly and hugged her back.

"Hi, Kristoff," she said quietly, hugging him too. "So: care to explain why we are having Charades on a Tuesday night?"

"We can't keep up our weekly family tradition?" Anna asked rhetorically. "I thought we said after our first Christmas following the Thaw that we were going to have more family traditions."

She was rambling more than usual, Elsa noted to herself. And Kristoff was remaining unusually silent, even for him.

The game resulted in its standard, hilarious results. Olaf still brazenly rearranged himself during his turns, despite Anna's complaints. The snowman didn't seem to care, and even at times seemed to display an attitude problem. Uh-oh. Was this the maturing that Olaf had expressed to them on their trip to the Enchanted Forest? A teenage Olaf was a frightening prospect, and Elsa was thankful that parenting the living snowman was not her job.

Anna took her final turn just before the Lightning Round. Her head bobbed nervously as she nodded to Sven to flip over the timer. As soon as the sands started to trickle, the Queen began motioning around her belly. Elsa and Olaf began shouting over each other in a duel of one-upsmanship to put out the right guess. Kristoff remained oddly still.

"You're hungry?"

"You're full. You already ate?"

"You're rowing a really narrow boat?"

"You need to throw-up."

"You're having a colonoscopy!" Everyone looked at Olaf.

"That's for guys only, Olaf," Kristoff grunted. Though he was trying not to laugh.

"Oh, right. Did you know that most people have a colonoscopy when they're 50...?"

"And moving on!" Kristoff cut across him. "Keep going, honey."

Anna continued the weird motion around her stomach.

"You have a pillow stuffed up your shirt," Elsa threw out, frustrated. Suddenly, Anna silently pointed at her, urging her to follow on that thread. Elsa's eyes narrowed. "You have something stuffed up your shirt."

Anna shook her head, then lifted up the top of her nightgown. Her stomach was bare. Flat. No. The answer was not was on _top_ of her stomach. It was what was... _inside_ her stomach...

Elsa went white. "You're having a baby."

"Yes!" Anna cheered, as Sven tinkled the bell.

Elsa stilled. "Yes?" she squeaked softly. She glanced to Kristoff, who was staring conspicuously at the ceiling. Elsa slowly stood and approached the Queen. The two sisters gazed at each other.

"You're going to be a... mommy?" Elsa's voice was breathless.

Behind them, Olaf frowned. "Wait: a baby? Now how did _that_ get in there?"

"Sven, don't you _dare_ answer that!" Elsa threw over her shoulder. Kristoff snapped his jaws shut.

Beaming, Anna nodded at her sister, her green eyes searching. "Say something!" she begged.

Elsa did. As she burst into tears. "I'm going to be an _aunt_!" The two sisters hugged fiercely, jumping up and down and cheering.

Kristoff sagged into the couch, smiling with relief.


	3. Chapter 2: Storm Clouds Rising

**Chapter 2: Storm Clouds Rising **

Kristoff dug his pick into the sheer cliff face, the fingernails of his free palm digging into the handhold so as to maintain balance. From below, Sven lowed nervously, the sound drifting up to his master. The reindeer always hated it when Kristoff scaled higher and higher for the best ice. But Kristoff knew what he was doing. He had been free-soloing cliffs since he was a small child. At least Anna always seemed impressed.

Settling into his footholds, Kristoff began to cut a chip into the slab of ice he wanted to slice off, pinging away as he worked. Another chip here. Another chop there. First slab was almost ready.

His left foot ran out of room in the hold, and slipped.

In retrospect, he should have built a snow anchor. Accomplished free-soloer though he was, it was usually best to at least have one safety net. It was the one thought that passed through Kristoff's mind as time seemed to slow down, while he plummeted from the high cliff face, Sven's panicked bray ringing in his ears. In the interim, Kristoff lost his grip on his ice pick, so that it went tumbling through space after him. Time still moving like molasses, he reached out a hand, slapping the handle so that the pick went spinning through the air.

He landed on something sharp. A stalagmite, most likely. In any event, something pierced the skin before Kristoff bounced off the thing and landed in the snow hard. The wind was knocked right out of him. Right away, he felt Sven's snout poking his blond mop of hair worriedly.

Groaning, Kristoff struggled to his feet. "Sven..." His vision was hazy, but not hazy enough so that he didn't see the droplets of blood staining the snow. _Huh_, his foggy brain noted almost disinterestedly. _How did that happen?_

Then, Kristoff spat up blood. His gaze drifted down to the hole in his side, now rapidly turning black from all the dark blood spilling. The stalagmite must have pierced some internal organ.

Kristoff staggered for Sven. "Anna..." He moaned, needing her arms. Her love. He barely had the strength to haul himself into the cart, before Sven was racing his master back to his mistress in Arendelle.

* * *

When the servants first brought Kristoff before her, she was sure he was dead. But Kai told the Queen that her husband was still breathing, and merely unconscious. Anna fearfully sequestered herself and Kristoff and the nurses in their chambers, the Queen holding her lover in her lap and stroking his hair.

It was late afternoon, the sun blazing its rays through the open window, when Kristoff began to stir. Someone was holding him tenderly.

"Where... where am I?"

"Ssssh. Just relax. The nurses are trying to staunch the blood flow..." He knew that voice. He _knew_ he knew that voice. But where?

"Who are you?"

And then his vision cleared, so that his wife was backlit by a halo of sunlight, looking like an angel. "Someone who loves you."

"Anna..."

Anna kissed him. Kristoff's groan was one of relief and she felt that relief acutely, for here he was, in her arms. Because time was precious, she had to kiss him.

Kristoff's hand weakly ghosted over her abdomen. "Is he...?"

"Baby's fine. Little Kristoff's fine. But he's kicking a lot. He's mad at Daddy."

Kristoff chuckled. "Little Feisty Pants, just like his mother. I don't like the name Kristoff Jr..."

"I'm the Queen, remember?" Anna asked teasingly. "I think I'd like having a Junior around the castle."

"Whatever you say, honey." Kristoff huffed out a breath, his eyes growing heavy as he fell asleep in Anna's arms.

"Sssh. Just rest. Rest. I love you..." She began to sing: "_Where the north wind meets the sea, there's a river full of memory..._" That was the last thing he heard.

* * *

Elsa jerked sharply quite unexpectedly, spooking Nokk so much he nearly capsized them both into the Dark Sea, on their way back from Ahtohallen. Elsa didn't know what it was, but something told her it was about Anna. Something wasn't right...

"Nokk: to Arendelle. Ya!" And turning her steed south-by-southeast, they thundered for the tiny harbor kingdom.

* * *

Elsa burst into the Queen's private residence to a nightmarish sight: her baby sister, doused in her husband's own blood, screaming and keening as she cradled his body. Anna barely put up a fight as Elsa pulled her away from Kristoff and into her arms, holding Anna and letting her weep bitterly.

"Oh Go-o-o-od... my Kristoff..." Anna wailed, whimpered.

"What happened?"

"I don't know! He didn't tell me, and I can't understand Sven..."

Wordlessly, Elsa touched a hand to Kristoff's body. Closing her eyes and letting the magic work, she allowed the ice statue of memory to appear, clearly showing the sisters how Kristoff had fallen from high up. The sight, frozen in time and space, only made Anna cry harder.

"That crazy mountain man! I _told_ him to use a snow anchor! I _told_ him to not risk free-soloing... why didn't he li-i-isten?" She broke down in sobs anew. The Queen clutched at her swollen belly. "I can't have this baby, Elsa! I'm all alone!"

"No, you're not!" Elsa countered, holding Anna close. "You have me. You'll always have me..."

* * *

Despite the fact that he would have hated it, Kristoff's funeral was one fit for a King. His portrait in the royal gallery was shrouded in black. Anna wore a veil of mourning, shielding her tearful eyes from everyone but her beloved sister. Bearing his master's coffin, Sven looked lost, and Olaf appeared just as dazed, for once in his life without a comment to bolster the other's spirits.

Things only got worse at the reception. Elsa and Anna were thanking their guests, when King Costner of the Southern Isles stepped forward, bowing his head forlornly.

"Your Majesties... my brother wishes to pay his respects..." And before the sisters could realize what was happening, Anna's eyes locked with Hans. The Queen of Arendelle froze in fear. "You..."

"Anna..."

"_Queen_ Anna, if you please," Elsa warned dangerously, turning her sister protectively into her chest.

"Your Majesty... I'm so sorry..."

"You're not _welcome_ here!" Anna snarled, her eyes wild and chilling as she clutched at her pregnant stomach. And Hans noticed.

"You're... you're pregnant..."

"Stay away from me! Get out! GET OUT!" Anna screamed. Elsa eyed Hans hard, for once appreciative that he had been brought to the funeral at least in chains.

"If you come near her again, I'll freeze you where you stand," she warned, her voice as cold as the winter wind. "I mean it, Hans. Stay out of our sight. We had better never see you again... or else..."

Costner led Hans away.


	4. Chapter 3: Mommy and Auntie and Baby

**Chapter 3: Mommy and Auntie and Baby**

Anna's screams were loud enough to wake the dead, the night she gave birth.

Liquid streaming down her thighs, she staggered on unsteady legs to her desk and scratched out a message to Elsa, throwing it out the window for Gale to catch and carry away. The wind spirit was swift and sure, telling its human spirit brethren that her sister was bearing a child.

Elsa rode Nokk right into the Queen's private residence, clearing a path of ice for the liquid equestrian as he galloped. The water spirit stood guard as Elsa coaxed Anna through the pangs of labor, holding her hand, the Queen's head in her lap, and looking grim.

"AHHHH! Oh, Arendelle above, help me... Kristoff! KRISTOFF!" Anna screamed and wailed through her tears for her husband, as, with a mighty shout, she slid the baby boy out of her. Nokk's water cleaned the red, squalling thing, and Elsa wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes, bringing it close to its mother's breast.

"Kristoff..." Anna slurred, her eyes unfocused, her throat raw and her voice hoarse. "Kristoff... Kristoff Jr..."

Tearfully, Elsa smiled. Pulling at Anna's arms, she prompted her sister to take her son and nurse him. Exhausted, Anna slowly began to sing the haunting lullaby taught to her and her sister oh so long ago:

"_Where the north wind meets the sea, there's a river full of memory... Sleep, my darling, safe and sound. For in this river, all is found... In her waters, deep and true, lie the answers and a path for you. Dive deep down into her sound, but not too far or you'll be drowned... Where the north wind meets the sea, there's a river full of memory... come, my darling, homeward bound. When all is lost, then all is found..._"

* * *

**Five Years Later**

Anna finished hitching up Sven, scratching him behind the ears gratefully. Even after all these years, he still remained loyal to his mistress, his master's spouse. It would be a sad day for Arendelle indeed, when the steadfast reindeer finally passed from old age. The Queen turned to her son.

"Kristoff... ready to go see Auntie?"

The little boy's eyes - his father's eyes, she noted with relief - gleamed. "Yeah!"

The little family rounded up Olaf - a move that Anna regretted less than five minutes into the journey. Between the talking snowman and her son, the white noise and chatter was non-stop.

"Mama? Is it true that Auntie Elsa is the Fifth Spirit? A goddess?"

"Did you know that you can set grapes on fire?" Olaf interrupted.

"Yes, honey, Auntie is the Fifth Spirit," Anna answered her son, while ignoring Olaf. "But a goddess? No, I wouldn't call her that."

"Did you know that some people's sleep patterns follow the Circaidian rhythms?"

"Did you know that baboons wiggle their purple butts to flirt?"

"Did you know that it's nutritious to drink your own pee?"

"Mama?" Kristoff Jr. asked. "Is it true that Auntie made the Snowgies on your birthday because she had a cold?"

"Yes, sweetie, on Mama's 19th Birthday. Auntie was feeling sick and... for Arendelle's sake, Olaf, SHUT UP! Can't a Queen carry on a conversation with her son?" Olaf sat back quietly, looking a little put out. A few minutes of silence passed before Anna patted his head in a silent apology.

The royal family finally reached the crest of the hill just beyond the Enchanted Forest. There, at the treeline, stood Elsa beside Nokk. Kristoff Jr. scrambled down from the cart as Sven slowed to a halt.

"Auntie Elsa!"

"Krissy!" Elsa picked her little nephew up and cuddled him close. Anna disembarked, beckoning to Olaf before rushing to embrace her sister.

"Hi, sis. How is Ahtohallen?"

"All quiet. Nothing to report," Elsa delivered.

Nokk approached and nuzzled Anna's face. "Hey, boy," Anna murmured gently. Little Kristoff was tepidly allowing the Fire Salamander to crawl from his aunt's shoulder and onto his hand.

"He won't bite, sweetie," Elsa assured him. "Or burn you. He's friendly."

Just then, a voice called out. "Elsa? Bonfire's starting soon."

"Just coming, Honeymarin," Elsa sent the Northuldra woman standing at the treeline an affectionate, even deeply tender, smile. And Anna noticed.

"What's that about?"

"Nothing," Elsa replied a little too quickly, as she shifted Kristoff Jr. to her other hip. Her face glowed red and Anna's heart leapt with hope.

"Uh-huh. I'm _so_ convinced by that," Anna volleyed sarcastically, making it clear that this conversation would come up again. "For Arendelle's sake, Elsa, there's a term of endearment built into her name!"

Elsa squirmed, refusing to admit anything, so Anna let the matter drop. The little family headed into the trees. However, at the edge of the forest, Anna glanced back, out to the horizon and the South Sea. Gale whistled through the landscape, and for just a fleeting moment, Anna sensed her husband's presence. A wistful smile grew on her face and as she entered the Enchanted Forest after her sister and son, the Queen of Arendelle sang:

"_Where the north wind meets the sea, there's a river full of memory... Sleep, my darling, safe and sound...When all is lost, then all is found..._"


End file.
